DISINFO: Ukrainians and Russians are one people
SUMMARY
Ukraine was gradually drawn into a dangerous geopolitical game, the goal of which is to turn the country into a barrier between Europe and Russia, into a springboard against Russia.
Western authors of the "anti-Russia" project set up the Ukrainian political system in such a way that presidents, deputies, ministers change, but there is a constant orientation towards separation with Russia, towards enmity with it.
After all, [Ukrainians and Russians] are one people.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukraine being under "external control" mixed with a narrative alleging that it is a Russophobic country. Earlier cases included claims that Ukraine "sold itself to external control" or that Ukraine is under "complete subordination to US interests."
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament. The country is not controlled by the US or any other foreign government. Both the EU and the US respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukraine is a strategic partner for the EU and NATO.
Ukraine is not a Russophobic, anti-Russian country. The relations between the countries deteriorated in 2014 after Russia occupied Crimea and fomented a military conflict in Donbas.
This article provides another recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about an all-Russian nation and the Russian world/civilisation. The "all-Russian nation" is an imperial Russian and Russian revanchist ideology that is a favoured pro-Kremlin narrative aimed at weakening the national identity of Ukrainians, as well as their sovereignty.
Ukraine is a well-defined nation-state with a long history and its own literature and identity, despite foreign rule for long periods of time. Ukrainians and Russians belong to the Slavs ethnolinguistic group but they are not a single nation. Read more in our article One Nation Myth.
See similar disinformation narratives in our database: Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are a single nation, Russians and Ukrainians are a single nation, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are three Russian political nations.